Hackers take over Uganda government websites due to anti-gay policy

Hackers from the Anonymous hacker group now control the website of the office of the prime minister of Uganda and the database of the Uganda Justice Law and Order Sector in retaliation for anti-gay policies

The Anonymous hacking group has hacked two Ugandan government websites, in retaliation for ‘violations of the rights of LGBT people’.

Anonymous is a loosely associated group of ‘hacktivists’ which originated in 2003.

It strongly opposes any form of oppression and censorship, and has been recently started to target governments which have anti-LGBT polices. Some of its members sometimes appear in public wearing Guy Fawkes masks.

The websites of office of the prime minister of Uganda and the Uganda Justice Law and Order Sector were hacked by hacktivist named @DramaSett3r on twitter, in an operation dubbed #OpFuckAfrica. The activist also downloaded the databases of both sites and has threatened that their contents may be revealed.

The hacktivists stated: ‘Today’s hack and deface of the Ugandan Prime Minister’s site was the latest in a long list of actions against the government and infrastructure of Uganda for crimes against LGBT people.

‘We will not stand by while LGBT Ugandans are victimized, abused and murdered by a ruthless and corrupt government. #TheEliteSociety and #Anonymous will continue to target Ugandan government sites and communications until the government of Uganda treats all people including LGBT equally and with respect, dignity and immediately ends the arrest and harassment of LGBT.’

The statement also included the encrypted admin passwords for Uganda’s Justice Law and Order Sector.

‘Your violations of the rights of LGBT people have disgusted us. All people have the right to live in dignity free from the repression of someone else’s political and religious beliefs. You should be proud of your LGBT citizens, because they clearly have more balls than you will ever have.

‘Real Ugandan Pride is demonstrated in standing up to oppression despite fearing the abuse, torture and murder inflicted on LGBT at the hands of the corrupt government.

‘We being TheEliteSociety aka #TES or #EliteSociety I am the founder and starter of both ops.’

Homosexuality is illegal for both men and women in Uganda, under a law which criminalizes sex ‘against the order of nature’. This has been interpreted specifically in Uganda as meaning gay sex. It is punished by particularly harsh prison sentences of up to life imprisonment. There has also been efforts over the last two years to amend this to capital punishment.

On 29 September 2005, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda signed into law a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage.

According to the Pew Global Attitudes Project poll in 2007, 96% of Ugandans said that homosexuality should be rejected by society, making it one of the highest rejections of homosexuality in the 45 countries surveyed.

But on 22 June this year, under international pressure, the Ugandan government said: ‘No government official is (supposed) to harass any section of the community and everybody in Uganda enjoys the freedom to lawfully assemble and associate freely with others.’